Abstract:

A web-fed rotary press having a regulating device. The regulating device
is a register roller capable of linear movement installed upstream of at
least one drive provided as an upstream actuator, i.e., the drive of the
folder lead-in rollers or of the draw rollers near the former lead-in
rollers and/or of draw rollers between the slitter and the former lead-in
rollers and/or of draw rollers on the full web before it reaches the
slitter.

Claims:

1. A method for adjusting a cutting register in a folder of a web-fed
rotary press having a folder superstructure, over which at least one
gathered strand of a plurality of gathered strands which can be assembled
into a complete gathered strand is guided, the method
comprising:acquiring information printed on an individual one of the
plural gathered strands;determining, based at least in part on the
acquired information, a correction value for correcting a cutting
register error of the individual one of the plural gathered strands;
andcorrecting the cutting register of the individual one of the plural
gathered strands by at least one actuator associated with to the
individual one of the plural gathered strands.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprisingassembling the
plural gathered strands into the complete gathered strand,wherein the
acquisition of the information and the correction of the cutting register
error are performed after the strand has passed through the folder
superstructure and before each of the plural gathered strands are
assembled into the complete gathered strand.

3. The method according to claim 2, further comprising:acquiring
information printed on the complete gathered strand; andcorrecting an
overall cutting register of the complete gathered strand based at least
in part on the acquired information printed on the complete gathered
strand.

4. The method according to claim 2, further comprising:acquiring
information printed on each of the plural gathered strands except an
individual one of the plural gathered strands on an outside of the
complete gathered strand; anddetermining at least one reference value
from the information acquired from the complete gathered
strand;determining a correction value for each of the individual ones of
the plural gathered strands as a deviation from the reference values
based at least in part on the information acquired from the individual
ones of the plural gathered strands; andcorrected cutting register error
of the individual ones of the plural gathered strands based on the
determined correction value.

5. The method according to claim 3, further comprising:acquiring
information printed each of the plural individual gathered
strands;determining reference values based at least in part on the
information acquired from one of the individual gathered
strands,determining correction values as a deviation from the reference
values for each of the plural individual gathered strands; andcorrecting
a cutting register error of an individual gathered strand based at least
in part on the determined correction value for each of the plural
individual gathered strands.

6. The method according to claim 5, further comprisingcorrecting an
overall cutting register error of the complete gathered strand resulting
from a deviation of the reference values from a nominal value of the
overall cutting register of the complete gathered strand by at least one
downstream actuator.

7. The method according to claim 4, wherein actuators for correcting the
cutting register error of the individual gathered strand are provided
only on the individual gathered strands from which printed information is
acquired.

8. The method according to claim 1,wherein said step of acquiring
comprises acquiring information printed on all of the individual gathered
strands;providing an actuator for each individual gathered strand;
andcalculating the correction values from a deviation of an actual value
based at least in part on the acquired printed information from a
presettable nominal value of a cutting register on a knife cylinder of
the folder.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the cutting register error of
the individual gathered strands is corrected by way of a change in the
length of the web accomplished by a register roller configured to move in
a linear guide.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein a cutting register error of
the complete gathered strand is corrected based at leased in part on a
mean correction value determined from the correction values of the
individual gathered strands.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein information printed on an
individual gathered strand is acquired from at least one of:the
individual gathered strands upstream of former lead-in rollers;at least
one partial web between a slitter and the former lead-in rollers; andfrom
a full web before it reaches the slitter.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein an actuator downstream from
the folder superstructure and assigned to one of an individual gathered
strand and the complete gathered strand are corrected with adjusting
signals based at least in part on preacquired printed information.

13. The method according to claim 12, further comprising determining,
based at least in part on the preacquired information, whether or not to
adjust the actuator downstream from the folder superstructure.

14. The method according to claim 11, further comprising determining,
based at least in part on the preacquired information, adjustment limits
for an adjustment of the actuator downstream from the folder
superstructure.

15. The method according to claim 14, further comprising at least one
of:providing a first upstream actuator on at least one of the individual
gathered strands in the area of the former lead-in rollers;providing a
second upstream actuator on at least one individual web between a slitter
and the former lead-in rollers; andproviding a third upstream actuator on
the full web,wherein at least one of the first, second, and third
upstream actuators is adjusted in based at least in part on the
preacquired printed information such that an accumulated collected at
that point is corrected.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the upstream actuator is
configured as a drive for at least one of:the former lead-in rollers,draw
rollers near the former lead-in rollers,draw rollers between the slitter
and the former lead-in rollers, anddraw rollers on the full web before
the full web reaches the slitter,wherein the a circumferential velocity
of at least one of the draw rollers is adjusted based at least in part on
the preacquired printed information.

17. The method according to claim 16, controlling the drive within
predefined limits, the predefined limits being at least one of .+-.0.03%
of a standard gain and any deviation from the standard gain is slowly
reduced or an actual gain returned to the standard gain by a register
roller capable of linear movement.

18. The method according to claim 1, wherein printed information is
reacquired from the complete gathered strand in an area of a tucker blade
cylinder and at least one of an angular position, gain, or rotational
speed of the tucker blade cylinder is corrected by a drive of the tucker
blade cylinder based at least in part on the reacquired printed
information.

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein printed information is
reacquired from the complete gathered strand in the area of a draw roller
pair upstream of the tucker blade cylinder, and at least one of an
angular position, gain, or rotational speed of the draw roller pair is
corrected by a drive of the draw roller pair based at least in part on
the reacquired printed information.

20. A web-fed rotary press comprising:a folder;a folder superstructure
over which one or more individual gathered strands of a plurality of
individual gathered strands which can be assembled into a complete
gathered strand are guided;a plurality of sensors configured to acquire
information printed on at least one of gathered strands, a partial web,
and the full web;actuators for correcting the cutting register error of
at least one of the complete gathered strand, the individual gathered
strands, the partial web, and the full web; anda control unit connected
to the sensors and to the actuators,wherein the control unit is
configured to determine a correction value of at least one of the
complete gathered strand, the individual gathered strands, the partial
web, and the full web as a deviation from a reference value based at
least in part on the information acquired from by the plural sensors.

21. The web-fed rotary press according to claim 20, further comprising
register rollers provided as the actuators configured to move in linear
guides for each of the individual gathered strands.

22. A web-fed rotary press according to claim 21, further comprising a
regulating device configured as a register roller capable of linear
movement, and installed upstream of at least one of the drive of folder
lead-in rollers, draw-rollers near the former lead-in rollers, draw
rollers between a slitter and the former lead-in rollers, and draw
rollers on the full web before the full web reaches the slitter.

23. The method according to claim 2, further comprising:acquiring
information printed on the complete gathered strand; andcorrecting an
angular position of a cutting knife cylinder, based at least in part on
the acquired information printed on the complete gathered strand.

24. The method according to claim 5, further comprisingcorrecting an
overall cutting register error of the complete gathered strand resulting
from a deviation of the reference values from a nominal value of the
overall cutting register of the complete gathered strand by adjusting a
drive of a cutting knife cylinder of the folder.

Description:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001]1. Field of the Invention

[0002]The present invention relates to a method for adjusting a cutting
register in a web-fed rotary press and to a web-fed rotary press
configured to implement this method.

[0003]2. Description of the Related Art

[0004]In the case of web-fed rotary presses, it is known that information
printed on the web can be detected by sensors installed along the web,
and that, in correspondence with the deviation between the actual
position value determined on the basis of the information thus acquired
and a predefined nominal value, actuators operated under either open-loop
or closed-loop control to act on the substrate web. The goal is to time
the arrival of the printed image and thus of the copy to be produced on
the cutting cylinder, which cuts the copies from the substrate web, that
is, to adjust the cutting register.

[0005]The information printed on the web and detected by the sensors can
be register marks or the overall printed image itself. The expected time
at which the register mark or the overall print image passes by the
sensor in question represents the nominal value for the registration. In
this conventional case, optical sensors such as cameras, light barriers,
or the like are used as sensors. As actuators, register rollers are often
used, are moved in linear guides transverse to the direction in which the
substrate web travels and by which the distance traveled by the web can
be increased or decreased. The drives of rolls at pinch points can also
be used as actuators, where the circumferential velocities of the draw
rollers along the paper web serve as the manipulated variables of the
cutting register control.

[0006]In most cases, the sensors are provided near the actuators to keep
the distance between the sensor and the actuator as short as possible and
thus the tolerances of the control process as narrow as possible. In the
known systems, observation and measurement elements and actuators can be
provided on the printing couples or on the pairs of draw rollers, etc.,
downstream of the printing couples. It is also known that measurement and
adjusting devices can be installed on the individual strands downstream
of the slitter, which divides the web into partial webs, where the drives
of strand draw rollers, in front of the former of the folder
superstructure, serve as actuators. Another known possibility for
observing and adjusting the cutting register exists in the area of the
folder on the basis of the angular position of the knife cylinder of the
folder, which ultimately defines the timing with which the individual
strands which have been gathered into the complete gathered strand are
cut into copies and which thus ultimately determines the overall cutting
register in the folder.

[0007]As mentioned, in the case of the possibilities cited above, the
sensors and the actuators are in most cases arranged close to each other.
But there are also circuits, especially automatic control cascades, which
are known, in which actuators are actuated under the influence of actual
values which have been acquired by sensors located a considerable
distance away.

[0008]Examples of cutting registration controls of the type indicated
above can be found in the present applicant's own applications DE 103 35
888, DE 103 35 887, DE 103 35 885, and WO 2005/016806 A1. Here, the paper
web is stretched over draw rollers, serving as actuators, upstream of the
formers. For this purpose, web observation sensors are provided near the
draw rollers, where the control of the cutting register occurs by way of
the circumferential velocities of the draw rollers on the individual
strands in question and thus by means of the change in the degree to
which the individual strand in question is stretched in response to the
output values of the web observation sensors. The control in these cases
is multi-stage, where the cutting length is also measured on the knife
cylinder of the folder and corrected by the angular position of the
knives of the knife cylinder. The measurement and adjusting units
upstream of the folder serve to eliminate accumulated errors which have
occurred up to the measurement site in question, whereas the control on
the knife cylinder or on the complete gathered strand by way of a
linearly adjustable actuating roller just before the strand reaches the
knife cylinder serves to eliminate the cutting register error which
occurs between the last measurement position of the strands and the
cutting cylinder.

[0009]Another system of cutting register control of the general type in
question can be found in DE 199 36 291 A1.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0010]An object of the present invention is the creation of a method and
device for cutting register control or adjustment by which the accuracy
of the cutting register of the folder is improved and the overall cutting
register error is minimized.

[0011]According to one embodiment of the invention, information printed on
an individual gathered strand is acquired and the cutting register error
of this individual gathered strand is corrected, preferably after it has
passed through the folder superstructure and before each of the
individual gathered strands are gathered into the complete gathered
strand. It is also conceivable, however, that this could be done above
the former. The invention is also applicable to the case of a magazine
folder superstructure, as long as the web observation step and the
corresponding cutting register error correction step are performed on
each of the individual gathered strands.

[0012]The web-fed rotary press comprises not only a folder and a folder
superstructure with a plurality of formers but also at least one sensor
and at least one actuator for each individual gathered strand for which a
cutting register error of which is to be corrected. The sensor and the
actuator are arranged in the folder in an area downstream of the folder
superstructure and upstream of the cutting knife cylinder, that is,
between the former and the cutting knife cylinder. In addition, a control
unit, which is designed to execute the inventive method, is connected to
the sensor and to the associated actuator.

[0013]By using the inventive cutting register adjustment or control,
accuracy of the cutting register is improved significantly compared to
known cutting register controls. In the known cutting register controls,
a measurement is made at the former inlet, and the cutting register of
the partial webs--which may be lying on top of each other--is adjusted
correspondingly, the next measurement being is made just upstream of the
cutting knife cylinder of the folder after the complete gathered web has
been assembled from the individual gathered strands, where the cutting
register position is readjusted at the cutting knife cylinder. In the
case of large former arrangements, e.g., with balloon formers, it is
possible for the cutting register errors of the individual gathered
strands to deviate significantly from each other because of differences
in the distances that the individual gathered strands travel from the
last actuator on the former inlet to the point that the individual
strands are laid on top of each other to form the complete gathered web.
With the arrangement according to one embodiment, it is possible to
eliminate these different cutting register errors of the individual webs
which result from the different distances the strands travel on their way
through the folder superstructure.

[0014]Each individual gathered strand is scanned by a sensor (camera or
the like) installed near the actuator and each strand is adjusted by the
actuator, preferably a register roller capable of linear movement, in
accordance with the determined cutting register error (in the case of a
register roller, the error being corrected by changing the length of the
web by shifting the register roller in the direction perpendicular to
that in which the individual gathered strand in question is running). All
of the strands are individually adjusted to a predetermined nominal value
for the cutting register, where the nominal value can be preset
iteratively by the printer on the basis of empirical values or can
originate from higher-level production planning software. The nominal
values can also be adapted to take current production conditions into
account. Deviations of the acquired actual values from the preset nominal
value are then registered at the sensor of the individual gathered strand
in question, whereupon the actuator assigned to the individual gathered
strand in question is actuated accordingly.

[0015]Alternatively, one of the individual gathered strands, optionally
also the outer gathered strand of the complete gathered strand, is a
reference gathered strand for the other individual gathered strands, so
that the correction of the other gathered strands is carried out relative
to this reference gathered strand. All of the individual gathered strands
are therefore adjusted with respect to the same cutting register serving
as a reference value. After the individual gathered strands have been
gathered, this cutting register error is then present on all of the
individual gathered strands and thus corresponds to the complete gathered
strand register error and can therefore be eliminated on the cutting
cylinder.

[0016]It is especially advantageous to provide actuating signals for at
least one of the actuators assigned to the individual gathered strand or
to the complete gathered strand and located downstream of the folder
superstructure, which are corrected in accordance with previously
acquired information printed on the web or webs. This information, which
been previously acquired in the known manner from at least one of the
plurality of individual gathered strands at a point near the former
lead-in rollers and which has been printed on the individual gathered
strand in question and/or to use the information previously acquired from
at least one individual web between a slitter and the former lead-in
rollers and/or to use the information previously acquired from the full
web before it has reached the slitter is used as a basis of the actuator
signal. It is possible, as a function of the previously acquired
information, to decide whether it is permissible to adjust the one or
more actuators downstream of the folder superstructure and/or to
determine the limits within which such an adjustment may be made.

[0017]The advantages are evident when, as in conventional methods or
conventional printing presses of the general type in question, actuators
are already present at the former inlet for the individual gathered
strands entering the former ("supplemental" actuators as defined
according to the present invention), and the corresponding sensors are
also already present. For, in most cases, the drives of the strand draw
rollers are used as the actuators, the circumferential velocity of which
can be adjusted faster than the length adjustment at the individual
gathered strands by way of the register rollers provided there. The drive
motors of the strand draw rollers are preferably held at a working point
(a defined standard gain) to prevent an unallowable adjustment of the
register rollers on the individual gathered strands, i.e., an adjustment
outside the desired adjusting range, from rendering futile the effort to
a bring the gain of the strand draw rollers back to the working point
(standard gain).

[0018]Alternatively to the correction of the actuating signals for the
actuators assigned to the individual gathered strands downstream of the
folder superstructure by the previously acquired information printed on
the strand or web in question, it is possible to use position signals,
rotational speed signals, or angle signals of the supplemental actuators.
If the drives of the strand draw rollers or other draw roller drives in
the path of the partial webs or of the as-yet uncut full web traveling to
the folder superstructure are provided as supplemental actuators, it is
also advantageous to adjust the drive of the supplemental actuator within
predefined limits and to have it return to a working point or standard
gain, where, by the use of a regulating device upstream of the drive, any
deviation from the standard gain is corrected or an actual gain is
returned to the standard gain. Instead of stretching the web by adjusting
the drive, a register roller capable of linear movement and thus able to
change the length of the web is used as a regulating device.

[0019]Instead of or in addition to the actuators on the individual
gathered strands, the drive of draw rollers or of the cutting knife
cylinder in the area of the complete gathered strand can be controlled to
achieve the desired correction in correspondence with the previously
acquired information printed on the web or webs.

[0020]Other objects and features of the present invention will become
apparent from the following detailed description considered in
conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood,
however, that the drawings are designed solely for purposes of
illustration and not as a definition of the limits of the invention, for
which reference should be made to the appended claims. It should be
further understood that the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale
and that, unless otherwise indicated, they are merely intended to
conceptually illustrate the structures and procedures described herein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0021]In the drawings:

[0022]Advantageous elaborations are the object of the other subclaims and
are explained in greater detail below together with an exemplary
embodiment of the invention on the basis of the attached drawings:

[0023]FIG. 1 is side view of a folder of a web-fed rotary press with a
folder, a folder superstructure, and an upstream turning unit;

[0024]FIG. 2 is end view of the folder and folder superstructure of FIG.
1; and

[0025]FIG. 3 is schematic diagram of the folder and folder superstructure
shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 depict cutting register control according to an
advantageous embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENTLY PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0026]FIGS. 1 and 2 show a folder of a web-fed rotary press with a folder
3, a folder superstructure 2, and an upstream turner bar tower 1. The
folders of printing presses are used to form folds in substrates, where,
a web-shaped substrate is usually first guided through a former to form a
longitudinal fold in the web-shaped substrate before it is cut.
Proceeding from the end of the former, the web-shaped substrate is
transported over several draw rollers toward a cutting knife cylinder,
where, on the cutting knife cylinder, copies are cut from the web-shaped
substrate. Then, as the cut web-shaped substitutes continue through the
folder, they are folded once in the transverse direction and possibly
folded again.

[0027]In one embodiment, a slitter 5 is installed upstream of the turner
bar tower to divide the full web GB coming from the printing couples (not
shown) or intermediate modules (drying, cooling, etc.) into partial webs,
i.e., into the partial webs B1, B2, B3, B4 or B1, B2, B5, B6. The slitter
5 is preferably designed as a pair of draw rollers, where there is also a
pair of draw rollers 4 provided upstream, which acts on the full web GB.

[0028]In the turner bar tower 1, the partial webs B1, B2, B3, B4, B5, B6
are turned by turner bar packages 18 in accordance with the desired
printed products and arranged on top of or next to each other and sent in
this way to the folder superstructure 2. In the example shown here,
either the partial webs B1, B2, B3, B4 are guided one above the other and
sent by way of pairs of draw rollers 6 to a double-wide main former TR1
or only the partial webs B1, B2 are so sent, whereas the partial webs B5,
B6 are each sent by draw roller pairs 6 to a half-width secondary former.

[0029]A linear compensator station 20 is installed between the turner bar
tower 1 and the folder superstructure 2. This station contains each
partial web passing through in the form of a U-shaped loop. With the help
of the compensator rollers, which are moved back and forth, the distance
to be traveled by the assigned partial webs B1, B2, B3, B4, B5, B6 is
increased or decreased, as a result of which the position of the printed
material printed on the web is regulated.

[0030]The folder superstructure 2 contains several formers TR1, TR2, TRN;
in the present example, it contains three of them, and they produce a
continuous longitudinal fold in the gathered strands HS1, HS2, HSN
passing over them. A gathered strand HS1 consisting of the partial webs
B1, B2, B3, B4, which have been laid on top of each other, is guided via
the main former TR1, a gathered strand HS2, HSN is guided via the two
secondary formers TR2, TRN. The former noses are flanked by assigned
former lead-in roller pairs 7, upstream of which additional draw roller
pairs 7a are provided. At the former outlet, another draw group 8 is
provided. The former lead-in roller pairs 7 and the draw roller pairs 7a
exert tensile force on the gathered strands HS1, HS2, HSN running over
their assigned folders TR1, TR2, TRN. The former lead-in roller pairs 7
consist of driven draw rollers.

[0031]Individual gathered strands HS1, HS2, HSN are sent to the folder 3,
where they are laid on top of each other to form a complete gathered
strand GHS before arriving at a cutting knife cylinder 12.

[0032]The folder 3 has a cutting knife cylinder 12, a collecting cylinder
13, and a folding jaw cylinder 14. The substrate GHS is moved or guided
between the cutting knife cylinder 12, the collecting cylinder (tucker
blade cylinder) 13, and a folding jaw cylinder 14. Additional connected
rollers such as perforating rollers are operated in synchrony with the
cutting knife cylinder 12 and are preferably adjusted when the cutting
knife cylinder 12 is adjusted. The knife cylinder can also provide an
additional nominal angle value for the drives of the cylinders and belts
to be described further below.

[0033]To create a transverse fold in the copy separated by the cutting
knife cylinder 12, the cutting knife cylinder 12, the collecting cylinder
(tucker blade cylinder) 13, and the folding jaw cylinder 14 cooperate
such that, upon separation of a copy from the substrate GHS by the
cutting knife of the cutting knife cylinder 12, the separated copy is
held at the starting edge by a pin device on the tucker blade cylinder
and then carried farther onward by rotation of the tucker blade cylinder
13. Of course, other gripping elements besides pin devices can be used.

[0034]The separated copy is moved into a defined relative position,
suitable for folding, between the tucker blade cylinder 13 and the
folding jaw cylinder 14, where, once this relative position has been
reached, a tucker blade of the tucker blade cylinder 13 presses the
folded area of the copy between opened folding jaws of the folding jaw
cylinder 14, whereas the pin device releases the copy. The copy thus held
by the folding jaw cylinder 14 is moved onward under rotation of the
folding jaw cylinder 14 and transferred to the downstream 3rd folding
unit 17 and to the delivery module 16.

[0035]Overall, therefore, it is necessary to assemble a greater or lesser
number of individual gathered strands HS1, HS2, HSN from partial webs B5,
B6 or partial webs B1, B2, B3, B4 into a complete gathered strand GHS and
then to cut them by the use of a common knife cylinder 12. As in the case
of the known cutting register control systems, the drive motor of the
strand draw rollers 7a (not shown in the case of the two secondary
formers) upstream of the former lead-in rollers is provided as an
actuator for each individual gathered strand HS1, HS2, HSN to compensate,
with the help of sensors provided near the motor, for the cutting
register error which has accumulated up to that point. This applies in a
corresponding manner also to the full web GB, where here the draw rollers
4 can be designed as an actuator with a sensor provided nearby.
Alternatively correcting the cutting register for each individual
gathered strand HS1, HS2, HSN consists of using linear regulators 20 as
actuators. Because these measures are known in and of themselves, the
sensors are not shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

[0036]The design of the cutting register control in the area of the folder
and the sequence of steps of the cutting register control process in this
section of the printing press are explained in greater detail below on
the basis of FIG. 3.

[0037]The folders T1, T2, TN are shown at the top in FIG. 3, where the
three dots between T2 and TN are intended to show that the inventive
cutting register control in the present exemplary embodiment is explained
on the basis of a configuration with three formers T1, T2, TN, and three
individual gathered strands HS1, HS2, HSN, each of which is guided over a
former. The invention is not limited to this configuration, however, but
can be implemented with any desired number of individual gathered strands
HS1, HS2, . . . HSN. Nor is it necessary to guide each individual
gathered strand over a former. Instead, the invention can also be
realized when one or more of the individual gathered strands bypass the
formers or are guided over several formers arranged in a multi-level
configuration. These gathered strands can originate from one or more
paper webs.

[0038]The individual gathered strand HS1 serves in the present embodiment
is a reference gathered strand for the other two individual gathered
strands HS2, HSN. The cutting register error of the individual gathered
strand HS1, which preferably lies on the outside after assembly into the
complete gathered strand GHS, is detected by a sensor S1 near the draw
rollers 11 at a point located on the cutting cylinder 12. To detect the
cutting register error of the two other individual gathered strands HS2
and HSN, corresponding optical sensors S2, SN are arranged at points
situated upstream of the point where these individual gathered strands
HS2, HSN are assembled with the reference gathered strand HS1. In
addition, a register roller (actuator) V2, VN, which can be shifted in
linear fashion in the direction of the arrow, is arranged in each of the
two paths along which the individual gathered strands HS2, HSN to be
adjusted travel.

[0039]The cutting register error or the positional information of the
reference gathered strand HS1 or corresponding information is sent by the
sensors S1A, S1 to a control unit ST, the cutting register error or
corresponding positional information of the two individual gathered
strands HS2, HSN to be adjusted is sent by the sensors S2, SN. From the
deviation of the cutting register error (i.e., of the position) of the
individual gathered strand HS2, HSN in question to be adjusted from the
reference cutting register error (i.e., from the position of the
reference gathered strand), actuating signals are calculated in the
control unit, which are transmitted to the register rollers V2, VN or
their linear drives to adjust the individual gathered strands HS2, HSN to
be adjusted so that they match the reference value. Because the cutting
register error of the individual gathered strands has been matched to the
reference value, the resulting cutting register error of each of the
individual gathered strands is therefore simultaneously the cutting
register error of the complete gathered strand GHS and is brought by way
of a control command to the drives M1, M2 of the cutting knife cylinder
12 and the draw rollers 11 into alignment with the cutting knife cylinder
12, for which purpose appropriate positioning signals are generated from
the signal of the sensor S1.

[0040]Of course, deviations and modifications of the embodiments explained
above are also possible without abandoning the scope of the invention.

[0041]Thus, while there have shown and described and pointed out
fundamental novel features of the invention as applied to a preferred
embodiment thereof, it will be understood that various omissions and
substitutions and changes in the form and details of the devices
illustrated, and in their operation, may be made by those skilled in the
art without departing from the spirit of the invention. For example, it
is expressly intended that all combinations of those elements and/or
method steps which perform substantially the same function in
substantially the same way to achieve the same results are within the
scope of the invention. Moreover, it should be recognized that structures
and/or elements and/or method steps shown and/or described in connection
with any disclosed form or embodiment of the invention may be
incorporated in any other disclosed or described or suggested form or
embodiment as a general matter of design choice. It is the intention,
therefore, to be limited only as indicated by the scope of the claims
appended hereto.